


The Importance of Proper Cuticle Care

by rhysiana



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Bros Just Noticing Other Bros Hands and Fingers and Everything About Them, Flirtation Strategies of the Ruthlessly Practical, Fluff, Hangnails Are Very Annoying, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-02
Updated: 2017-01-02
Packaged: 2018-09-14 02:51:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9156253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhysiana/pseuds/rhysiana
Summary: Nursey gets hangnails. Dex notices, and it's driving him insane. If the boy can't be trusted to take care of himself, well, someone else is going to have to. Clearly.





	

**Author's Note:**

> A Tumblr fic I liked enough to move it to a more permanent home. Please join me in reveling in Dex's attempts to show affection through gruff practicality.

Nursey gets hangnails. Constantly. And Dex gets it, he does, because they’re in an ice rink several hours a day, plus his cousin who went to cosmetology school explained to him once that when you’re stressed, your body tries to keep circulation closer to your core to protect all the vital stuff, meaning your extremities suffer and dry out and thus, hangnails, and they’re college students, so it’s not like stress is a stranger. She’d explained all this while giving him a manicure because she needed someone to practice on, and he’d honestly liked the clear polish, plus having his nails properly filed for once meant they didn’t snag on shit all the time, and honestly, he now blames Claire entirely for how much attention he’s been paying to Nursey’s hands. He never used to notice shit like this.

Because that boy will not stop picking at his stupid hangnails. He’s got one on the side of his right thumb right now, and he’s been idly clawing at it with the nail of his index finger in between turning the pages of his book, and any minute now he’s going to…

Dex reaches out and catches Nursey’s hand before he can raise it to his mouth. “Would you fucking stop that?” he snaps, completely exasperated.

Nursey is staring at him, eyes wide with shock, hand frozen in Dex’s grip. “Uh, stop what?”

“Stop ripping off all your hangnails. Or do you not notice how often you make yourself bleed?”

“I, uh, they’re annoying? I dunno, I never really thought about it. Why does it matter to you anyway? Chill, Poindexter.”

Dex grits his teeth and reaches into the thigh pocket of his cargo pants for his multitool. He snaps out the tiny scissors and hands it over. “Just cut it off like a civilized person and stop gnawing on yourself like an animal. For fuck’s sake.”

Nursey silently accepts the scissors and clips off the offending hangnail, then examines his other fingers just in case before handing them back. “Uh, thanks.”

Dex feels his cheeks heat for no reason _whatsoever_ , which makes him crabbier, so he stuffs the multitool back in his pocket and grumbles, “Yeah, whatever. Just ask for it next time instead of ripping your fingers apart.”

***

The next time Nursey asks to borrow Dex’s multitool is on the bus on the way back from an away game. Dex hands it over without a word, then rummages around in his bag until he finds his cuticle cream and hands that over, too.

“Dude,” Nursey says. “What even?”

Dex shrugs. “My cousin makes it. She runs a salon in a town full of fishermen. She tests all her stuff on the family first. It works.”

He holds out his hands as evidence, and Nursey is momentarily transfixed by his long, pale fingers. His hands are faintly marked with small scars in quite a few places, but his nails are, admittedly, hangnail-free.

“Huh,” is Nursey’s eloquent reply. He blinks and looks away, focusing on opening the small jar he’s holding. “What’s in it?”

“I forget all of it. Beeswax from some guy she knows, lanolin, some sort of oils? This one smells minty. Last time it smelled like lemon.”

Nursey dutifully applies it, appreciating the way it seems to soak right in. “Nice. Thanks.” He tries to hand it back, but Dex waves him off.

“Keep it. I’ll get a new one soon.”

Nursey turns back to his homework, but is distracted by the confusing feeling of warmth that seems to be spreading from his fingertips to the rest of him. It’s just a little jar of cuticle cream, but he feels… cared for. When was the last time anyone tried to make him take better care of himself?

Oh. Actually, that was Dex, too, now that he thinks about it, that time he had Bitty bring him soup during their first semester and yelled at him for catching a cold.

He glances at Dex where he’s sitting in the seat next to the window and notices he’s chafing his hands together like his fingers are cold. Nursey fumbles in the pocket of his jacket and pulls out his fingerless gloves. He hands them to Dex, a little shyly.

Dex takes them without a word and the briefest of smiles.

It feels like much more.

**Author's Note:**

> Am I now married to the person who publicly shamed me for biting off a hangnail in our college dining hall and then shoved a multitool at me? Yes, yes, I am. This is the height of romance, y'all. THE HEIGHT.


End file.
